Contemplations on a Firefly
by J. Maria
Summary: Various ficlets done in the Firefly 'verse for firefly100 and fffridays. Various ratings and themes within, possibly spoilers for Serenity in future installments.
1. Dealer

Title: Dealer  
Author: Jmaria  
Rating: Pg  
Challenge: 92 - miracles

Disclaimer: Joss owns them, but I wish I did.  
Word count: 339

Summary: Shepard Book has some thoughts about maintaining the faith of the crew.  
A/N: First pure Firefly fic. Have done a few crossovers, though.

**__**

Dealer

I deal in matters of the faith. When I boarded _Serenity, _I never intended to have my own crisis of faith. A shepherd is supposed to lead and guide his merry flock. I seemed to have gotten a whole herd of black sheep. There is the Captain, who despises any sort of faith and subsequently, it's dealers. There is the companion Inara, who in her own way, deals her kind of beliefs. I don't necessarily agree with her trade, but she is a good woman.

There is Kaylee, a girl so sweet and loving that one can find little at fault with her. Jayne . . . is Jayne, I find that there is no word or string of words that can explain the man better. Zoe and Wash are an odd combination, but they suit each other well. Then there is Simon and his sister. River is, well, the word 'special' doesn't come close to describing the girl.

You see, we all had our reasons for getting on this boat. Some were lofty and noble, others were petty, and some were ways to escape the cruelty that seems to abound in our world. I remember what it was the Captain said to me once.

After a particularly grueling heist, I did my shepherd's duty. I put everything into perspective.

"Shepherd, you did your part, you don't gotta come up to me and give me one of them lectures on morals and such," Mal had laughed.

"I wouldn't expect to do that, Captain. I'll just thank the Lord for what he's given you."

"Don't be doing that on my account."

"Oh, I'm not."

That seemed to set him back, and he got that look that he always gets when he's trying to work out a man's motives.

"Huh." This confused him a bit.

"I'm doing it for us all. Someone's got to make sure our little miracles keep happening."

You see, while I deal with matters of Faith, the big man up there deals with the miracles we're given.


	2. Bad Comb Over

Title: Bad Comb Over

Author: jmaria

rating: PG-13-ish

Words: 247

Disclaimer: Joss is god-king, I am not.

Summary: Jayne says something out of the ordinary . . .

challenge: er, 37. something seen in unexpected light

A/N: yeah, took sorta on a life of it's own.

"You can see it in your eyes, that collective calm and good will towards all. Unlike most, your an open-book. Don't take much to get a man to wondering what'll it take to get you to thinkin' he's all decent and amicable-like. He don't get the chance to reckon you'd just ignore 'im, let 'im go about his way. That makes you vulnerable, little Kaylee. Sucks ya into that feeling that you could get away with gorram murder."

"Who'd want to do a thing like that?" Her voice was tiny and pinched, her eyes narrowed in uncertainty.

"More 'an most. You're easy to fall into," he keeps it brief, knowing he's already said to much and given too few hints. "That and you're so damn cheerful. Makes a body sick."

"Hmm."

"Git outta my way, girl. Got more'n enough to do without you hanging about," Jayne shouldered the supplies and stalked off to the galley, cursing under his breath.

Kaylee stared after him for a tick, emotions running across her face.

"I don't think I'll ever understand that big lug," she said, sighing.

"Not many that say they can," Mal replied, wrapping an arm around her.

"Just never known Jayne to talk in that long a sentence before. Kinda spooky," Kaylee gave him a watery grin.

"That it is," Mal squeezed her close. Lots a things were changing on his boat, and it seemed little Kaylee was choosing to ignore some of 'em. He wondered how long that'd last.


	3. Flickering

Title: Flickering  
author: Jmaria  
rating: PG  
Disclaimer: Joss is the creator, I'm just playing puppet master.  
Challenge the ninety-third - lightbulbs

Words: 142  
Characters: River, Kaylee, Jayne  
Summary: Light crackling with uncertainty and longing to glow, that's how it feels.  
A/N: In a perfect world, I was gonna write different pov's of this same situation. Then two quizzes, a mid-term, and homework got in the way.

It hits her like a light bulb sparking to life after long disuse. Brilliant flares of light crackling with uncertainty and longing to glow as brightly as they once did. Only it's not her brain pan that's sending off the weak flare. It's little Miss Kaylee's. She sees somethin' new, somethin' she ain't never seen before. And it's not in Simon's direction. It's a pity. He's a boob who can't verbally copulate properly, but then neither can the one in Kaylee's line of sight. 'Course he exudes a power that her poor brother can't.

She's spent her own nights in her bunk, wondering if he had to touch and taste _everything._ Little Kaylee hadn't though, and these thoughts frightened her, heightened her own senses. Her skin revolted, made her bones throb. River eyes Jayne wearily. Not fair, she'd felt the flickering first.


End file.
